HALO 2: The Final Stand
by Master Chief 117
Summary: Chapter 2 is up! If I don't get more reviews I won't continue with the story so if you like it,REVIEW IT!
1. The Leap of Faith

HALO 2:  
The Final Stand  
  
  
|:MISSION HISTORY  
LOADING...  
  
"Sir, they just folded in...Inside our formation,"someone said over the COM.  
  
"Son, I need you to calm down,"a man replied. It was Admiral Michael Stanforth and the man he was speaking to was a Longsword Interceptor pilot.  
  
The Master Chief was listening to their conversation over the COM as he walked through a door and out of a brightly lit room.  
  
"Look...Additional contacts. Moving to engage,"the pilot said.  
  
There was some static and then the Chief heard Admiral Stanforth say, "...and get your picket to Rally Point Alpha."  
  
The Chief continued to walk down the hall of the UNSC carrier, the Leviathan, and as he passed a certain panel of the hall, part of the wall popped out and revealed 4 newly modeled Assault Rifles. The Chief grabbed one as the next part of his Mission History appeared on his HUD.  
  
|:EXPLORE DERELICT RING HABITAT  
COMPLETE...  
  
The Master Chief continued down the hall and into an elevator. A new voice appeared over the COM Channel.  
  
"Admiral, you can't let them maintain orbit,"the voice said.  
  
"I'm tryin' General but we've lost advantage within the Lunar Perimeter,"the Admiral replied.  
  
The next piece of the Chief's Mission History flashed on his HUD.  
  
|:DESTROY HOSTILE GROUND FORCES  
COMPLETE...  
  
"My frigates are combat ineffective and the fighters...They don't have enough punch to take out a Covenant Assault Carrier,"Admiral Stanforth replied.  
  
The Chief readied his rifle as the elevator continued its descent.  
  
"Your pilots let up...And down here, it's the goddamned apocalypse!"the General barked.  
  
|:NEUTRALIZE ADAPTIVE PARASITIC LIFEFORM  
COMPLETE...  
  
"I'm asking you to re-target the orbitals!"the General shouted.  
  
The elevator came to a stop and the Master Chief and continued through a door into a large docking bay.  
  
"And let more of them slip the Kill Zone? That's insanity! There's nothin' more I can do!"the Admiral said.  
  
Once again the Mission History appeared on the Master Chief's HUD.  
  
|:OUTWIT ANCIENT A.I. CONSTRUCT  
COMPLETE...  
  
The pilot returned to the COM Channel and spurted out, "The core defense is too intense...Our grid is maxed, I don't think we'll last another run!"  
  
The Master Chief continued walking as Cortana spoke up:  
  
"Admiral, tell you men to hold their positions. Reinforcements are on the spoke."  
  
"The entire fleet is engaged, Cortana, with respect, what the hell sort of reinforcement have you got?"the Admiral asked. Cortana did not reply.  
  
The Master Chief came upon a large window and looked outside at a terrible sight. A grim look took over his face as he watched Earth being attacked by the Covenant. Bolts of plasma were rained down on the planet, and bombs were going off on the surface. Heavy fighting was going on. The Master Chief suddenly snapped out of his temporary state of shock as the last part of his Mission History showed up.  
  
|:STOP DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN RACE  
IN PROGRESS...  
  
The Chief turned around and walked towards a pillar. On the other side of the pillar was a red button.   
  
"It's passing below your position, ma'am. Proximity Zero,"a technician said over the COM  
  
The Master Chief punched the button and a panel marked "Restricted Only" rose higher up on the pillar, revealing a handle. The Chief braced himself on the pillar and prepared to do something that could very easily kill him.  
  
"What if you miss?"Cortana nervously asked.  
  
The Master Chief paused for a moment, mulling the thought of missing over. He finally said, "...I won't..."  
  
He pulled on the handle and the large window slowly opened, decompressing the room. The Master Chief pushed himself off the pillar and was sucked into the vacuum of space. He accelerated as he descended towards Earth-Or, more so, a Covenant destroyer. The Chief watched the faint-purple ship inch ever closer to him, the light from the sun reflecting on the ship's shields. For a minute the Chief began to watch Earth but remembered the 3 factors of this mission that had to go off without a hitch.   
  
First, he had to make sure that he would at least hit the ship. Second, he had to make sure he hit the ship as it discharged plasma since the shields temporarily dropped. Lastly, he had to make sure he didn't become vapor from being blasted by a plasma torpedo.  
  
Suddenly the Master Chief sprung into action. He leveled his rifle towards the black, weak part of the hull and watched the plasma guns on the sides of the ship charge up. The plasma fired, and so did the Chief. The first few bullets pinged off the shield but the rest tore a fist sized hole in the hull. The Chief flung himself to the side in the zero gravity and grabbed onto the hole. He noticed that the impact took out the shields on his MJOLNIR Armor, but he still began to rip the hole back to make it bigger. However, the shields on the ship began to recharge. The Chief's grip began to loosen, and if he fell he would get sucked into the Earth's atmosphere and get burned to a crisp. That wasn't an option though. He had to complete this phase of the mission...His fate and the fate of humanity depended on it. 


	2. Into the Ship

CHAPTER 2: INTO THE SHIP  
  
  
  
The Master Chief started to slip off the smooth surface of the ship.  
  
"C'mon Chief, you can do it!"Cortana urged.  
  
The Master Chief pulled himself up towards the hole he made and stuck the nose of his rifle through it. He pulled back on the rifle as hard as he could and opened the hole wider. He shoved his arm inside the ship and pulled himself inside. He fell to the ground with a thud. The Master Chief leapt up and surveyed the area.  
  
"Cortana, activate motion sensors, please,"the Chief asked.  
  
"Done!"she replied.  
  
"Cortana, do you think you could see how many Covenant are on this hunk of metal?"the Chief asked.  
  
"I'll try,"she said. Hardly 2 seconds later she was back and reported, "I'm detecting about 100 Covenant. 25 Grunts, 40 Jackals, and 35 Elites. No Hunters."  
  
"Hmmm...Okay, now can you direct me to the Control Room of this ship?"  
  
"NAV Point Activated. The Control Room is 500 Meters South of here,"she replied.  
  
"Thanks,"the Chief said. "One more thing, could you put a layout of the ship over my motion sensor so I can tell which paths to take?" The map appeared over his sensors immediately. "Thanks again."  
  
The Master Chief slowly walked down the hall and watched 3 red dots move up and down a hall casually.  
  
Good, he thought, I don't think they know I'm here.  
  
He came upon the corner that led into the guarded hall. He peeked around the corner and saw the Covenant troops. One Grunt and 2 Jackals. The Chief reloaded his gun and pulled back the bolt. The clicking sound got the attention of the Jackals, however, and they slowly raised their guns as they turned around. The creatures walked towards the Chief's position. The Master Chief jumped out from his corner and the Jackals raised their shield. The Chief sprung at one Jackal and knocked it on its back. He quickly turned and put 15 rounds in the other Jackal's back before it could turn around. The Grunt turned around and screamed but it was cut off as the Master Chief blasted it in the face. The Jackal on the ground fired at the Chief but missed. The Master Chief slammed the butt of his rifle into the Jackal's face and smashed it.  
  
"Nice job, Chief,"Cortana said.  
  
The Chief cracked a smile and kept walking. The hall was extremely long, and, strangely enough, there were no other Covenant. The Master Chief started to wonder where they were but he remembered what Chief Mendez told him when he was training to be a SPARTAN. Kill first, ask questions later. Soon his question was answered, though, as he came towards a large door. He looked at his motion sensors and his jaw practically dropped. In the large room past that door were 62 Covenant forces.  
  
"Uh, Cortana, is there another way to get to the control room without going through this room?"the Chief nervously asked. He got scared all the time but usually didn't show it. He would usually mentally acknowledge the apprehension, put it aside, and continue. This time was different, though, since there were so many Covenant.  
  
"Sorry Chief but I can't find one. The ducts here aren't going to work since they're so small and the other doors are locked. I can't seem to break the code on any of them,"she stated. She sounded frustrated to the Chief, which made sense since normally she could easily crack a Covenant door code.  
  
"Oh...I see,"the Chief said. He could still feel the fear. It was beginning to overwhelm him. Finally, after a full minute's pause, he said, "Okay, here goes nothing!"  
  
He pressed the button on the panel next to the door to open it, readied his rifle, and ran inside. He ducked and rolled behind a large crate and awaited enemy fire. None came. The Chief took out his fiber-optic probe and snaked it around the crate. Grunts and Jackals were boarding dropships, ready to be brought to Earth's surface. Strangely no Elites were in sight. That was good, though, since a group of Elites could tear him limb from limb with no remorse. The Master Chief did not want to interact with all these Covenant, but 62 less Covenant for Earth to fight might help a little. He mulled the thought of attacking them over when something else crossed his mind. What was in this crate? He slowly and deliberately turned it over so the top was facing him and he easily pried it off. Inside were more plasma grenades than he had ever seen.  
  
"Chief, if I may make a suggestion?"Cortana asked.  
  
"Go ahead,"he started, "I'm open for any help right now."  
  
"With my help you can throw these plasma grenades onto the dropships at strategic locations, making them explode from a single grenade,"she said.  
  
"Well, okay, so what do I do?"the Chief said.  
  
"Just activate the grenade and I'll do the rest,"she replied.  
  
The Master Chief did as he was told. He crouched so he could see over the crate, grabbed a grenade, faced a ship, and activated it. Cortana took over his arm. She pulled it back, aimed, and let it rip towards a departing dropship. The grenade landed on the cockpit of the ship and exploded, leaving the troop pods to be burned away it the atmosphere. She repeated the process until all 5 of the dropships were destroyed.  
  
"Nice work, Cortana. Thanks,"he added.  
  
"No problem Chief. Now, let's head for that bridge!"she exclaimed.  
  
The Master Chief ran towards the door at the end of the hall and looked at his HUD. 35.6 M it said. He was almost there. Cortana cracked the door's lock code and it opened. No one was in the hall up ahead, or in any of the rooms to the side. That worried the Chief. If all the Covenant weren't in this hall, they had to all be in the bridge. And, the worst part of it was, they were all Elites.  
  
The Master Chief walked all the way to the end of the hall until a large grey door at the end. It had some alien writing on it and the Chief assumed it said "Bridge". He checked his sensors and realized that all the remaining Covenant were, in fact, in that room.   
  
"Cortana, can you decipher the lock on this door?"the Chief asked.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. The lock is a little too complex for my current technology. You'll have to get in there the hard way, and, MAKE SURE YOU DON"T BREAK ANY OF THE CONTROLS!"she exclaimed.  
  
"I'll try,"the Chief mused.   
  
He readied his rifle and blasted at the door. The bullets, however, just pinged off the door. It was bulletproof. The Chief didn't think it was grenade proof, though. He got out one of his plasma grenades and gently tossed it about a meter in front of the door. He jumped back and the grenade exploded, leaving a clean hole in the door. A group of 5 Elites came and investigated and the Chief tossed another one. It landed above their heads and exploded. Their purple blood sprayed across the floor. The Chief ran towards the hole, dove in, and fired at the first Elite he saw. He landed a headshot and took it down right away.  
  
"Chief, let me target for you,"Cortana said.  
  
"Okay, if you must,"the Chief spurted.  
  
He wanted her help, though. It made his life a lot easier during battle. She landed headshots on the Elites almost every time and dodged most of their shots. She made his reaction time so much better than normal. However, she did not always dodge. He kept his eyes on his HUD and watched his shield increasingly drop. The Chief began to worry.  
  
"Cortana, let me try something," he said.  
  
The Chief glanced to his right at a panel of controls in the middle of the room. He got up from his crouched position and made a break for it. The Chief ran, rolled, and landed with his head ducked right behind it. The Covenant wouldn't dare to try shooting at him at risk of hitting essential controls...Or at least he thought. When he peeked his head out, the remaining 10 Elites opened fire. One of the control units was fried and one Elite seemed to curse in its alien tongue. The group then moved to flank the Master Chief, but he saw that coming. The Covenant were smart, yet predictable.  
  
"Take this fuckers!" the Chief shouted as he sprang up and on top of the controls.   
  
The half-ton of MJOLNIR Armor all but smashed the fried control unit. He opened fire with his rifle, spraying rounds all over the Elites. Normally he wouldn't act like this during battle, but somehow this was different. This time he wasn't just fighting the Covenant on a ship, he was fighting the Covenant on a ship over Earth. The taking over a Covenant ship could help lean the battle over Earth in humankind's direction.  
  
"Chief, watch where you're firing! We need to keep the ship in decent condition!" Cortana blurted.  
  
The Chief watched his shields go down slowly...Along with the amount of red dots on his motion sensor. The Chief continued to fire when suddenly he heard a *click* sound. He was out of ammo and 3 Elites were surrounding him. The Master Chief was trained in many situations, but this wasn't one he excelled in. The Chief jumped off the platform and kicked an Elite. The Elite doubled over but was not really harmed. Next he sprang at another Elite. His open-fisted blow knocked the Elite out of calibration for a while as the Chief followed up with a hard shot to its spine. The Elite dropped, dead. The remaining two began to rapidly fire at him. He ducked, rolled, and tripped the nearest Elite with his rifle, then gave it a butt to the back of its head as it fell. The last Elite just stood there, staring at the Chief. It leaped at the Chief and tried to strike him with his rifle, but the Chief was faster. He sidestepped, grabbed the creature's arm, pointed the gun towards its head, and squeezed the trigger. Purple blood sprayed the nearby wall and the Elite dropped, dead.  
  
"Chief, you did it! The ship is ours!" Cortana exclaimed.  
  
The Chief did not reply, instead, he moved towards a window and stared at Earth.  
  
"Chief, I'm going to contact Admiral Stanforth and let him know everything is going as planned," Cortana announced.  
  
"Okay but hurry, I really want to dispose of more Covenant bastards..."the Chief replied 


End file.
